The present invention relates to an adapter used in electrical connectors, and relates more particularly to an improvement in such adapters whereby the adapter is capable of slidably connecting to a rail type bus bar power distribution system and connecting an elongated conductor to the rail system in various orientations relative thereto independently of the adaptor/rail connection.
Rail-type bus bar power distribution systems are known. Such systems can handle up to four feeders per phase and are rated at 13,000 to 15,000 amps per phase. The rails of the bus-bar can be found in various lengths and have an insulated platform that can easily be mounted by bolting through a wireway or junction box. Such rails provide an unlimited tapping capability up to the maximum amperage rating limits for the bus bar.
Previously, the tapping of electrical energy from the bus bar was heretofore accomplished by using a connector having a spring body design that locked into the dove-tailed rail upon the tightening of a set screw which threaded through the top part of the spring body design thereby compressing the wire conductor against the bottom of the connector and spreading the spring dove-tail configuration to effect the connection with the correspondingly shaped grooves in the dove-tailed rail.
However, it is often desirable to connect conductors to a bus bar rail of the type which use compression terminals formed on their ends. The use of such compression terminals on a conductor is desirable because it provides a high conductivity, seamless medium between which electricity passes. This is because the compression terminal or lug is often made of high conductivity material, such as, seamless electrolytic wrought copper and electro-tin plated to prevent corrosion. The compression terminals further can be die or color coded in order to match the correspondingly colored coded system rails.
Another drawback with the previously used spring body connectors is that the orientation of the conductor wire which is connected to the bus rail through the connector must be disposed in a parallel orientation relative to the length of the rail members. This is because the conductor cable must be inserted lengthwise with the elongate extent of the rails in order to effect insertion of the conductor end into the body of the connector and for subsequent biasing with the set screw. That is, it is often desirable, if not necessary, to have the conductor wires connected to the adaptor so as to be disposed perpendicularly to the rail bus system in order to make the proper connection.
Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to provide a bus bar adapter capable of being used in a rail bus bar system wherein the adapter is capable of connecting conductors having various end configurations, including compression terminal type ends.
Still a further object of the invention is to provide an adapter of the aforementioned type wherein the conductor is capable of being connected to the adapter at angles other than one which orients the conductor parallel to the length of the rail bus bar at the connection point.
Still a further object of the invention is to provide an electrical adapter the aforementioned type wherein the adapter is capable of connecting a conductor having either a compression terminal or mechanical terminal end in varied configurations and/or orientations with the rail bus bar. Other objects and advantages of the invention will become known by the foregoing description in the appended claims.